ShareThisIf Tiger Woods does not win next week's PGA Championship, he will finish 2009 without a major title. And his season, even with four victories and counting, will practically be an abject failure.
This is harsh, sure, but then Woods is always held to a different standard than every other player on the planet. He created this by openly saying, many times, he measures himself by major victories. His long-sought goal has been to eclipse Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 professional majors (Woods stands at 14).
He seldom speaks about breaking Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA Tour wins (Woods reached 69 on Sunday in Michigan).
Woods' quest to avoid a major-less year will count as a compelling story line next week at Hazeltine National outside Minneapolis. In the past 10 years, he has come up empty in the majors only twice, in 2003 and '04.
The most relevant parallel to this season is 2007. Woods contended in the Masters and U.S. Open that year (he tied for second in both tournaments), as he did this year (he tied for sixth in both tournaments). He tied for 12th in the British Open in '07 and missed the cut this year at Turnberry.
Woods went to sweltering Tulsa in 2007 and clinically worked his way around Southern Hills. He didn't use his driver much that week -- an option he won't have at long, strong Hazeltine -- but it will be telling to see if he can avoid trouble off the tee. If he doesn't inch closer to Nicklaus next week, he faces a long eight-month wait for another chance.
Another significant story line heading into the PGA, naturally, will be Phil Mickelson. He returned to the tour Thursday at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, his first event since the U.S. Open. Mickelson has missed the past six weeks to be with his wife, Amy, after her breast-cancer surgery.
(E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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